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Doctor Who: Alex Macqueen – Big Finish’s bridge Master

By James Aggas

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Alex Macqueen first appeared as the Master in UNIT: Dominion.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Following our look at Geoffrey Beevers in the role, we look at Alex Macqueen’s incarnation of Doctor Who villain the Master, exclusive to Big Finish.

In 2012, Big Finish released the Seventh Doctor box set Doctor Who: UNIT: Dominion. There was a lot that grabbed fans’ interest about this release. Along with telling a four-hour epic of UNIT fighting against multiple invasions from other dimensions, it also brought back fan-favorite companion Klein.

But perhaps most intriguing of all, it introduced Alex Macqueen as a future Doctor, aiding his past self during this epic event. Across the first three hours of the story, Macqueen actually comes across as a convincing Doctor. He’s smart, sarcastic and more than a little eccentric.

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Of course, there were other times when his personality seemed to come across as a little “off”. For example, this Doctor seemed to care just a little less about the little guy than usual. He also seemed desperate to get his hands on a piece of alien technology from UNIT, and even the Seventh Doctor’s companions didn’t trust him.

So of course, it wasn’t until the ending of part three that the real Doctor realized the truth.

"You’re not me. You’re…the Master."

It’s an amazing cliffhanger, and so perfectly done. That moment alone is worth getting UNIT: Dominion for, especially for how well set up it was. It also leads into the fourth episode, which is where things get really interesting.

A new Master

Part four of UNIT: Dominion is amazing, because it’s the first episode where we truly get to hear Macqueen as the Master and find out what he’s really like. And he’s just absolutely fantastic.

In many ways, it’s similar to how he played the Doctor, but because he’s evil, he gets to have a lot more fun with it. He’s very reminiscent of John Simm’s Master, particularly during the Russell T Davies era.

But he’s still got a hint of a sinister edge to him that previous Masters had, too. One moment where he delights in telling one of the Doctor’s companions a terrible secret, just because he could, is such a deliciously evil moment, and Macqueen plays it perfectly.

However, by the end of the story, we don’t know which incarnation of the Master this is, or where he came from. That wasn’t revealed until over a year later, in the Eighth Doctor series Dark Eyes…

The Master had a major role in the epic Eighth Doctor series Dark Eyes.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Dark Eyes

While Macqueen’s Master didn’t appear in the first Dark Eyes box set, (which was released just a month after UNIT: Dominion,) he did have a major role to play in all the remaining volumes.

His appearance in Eyes of the Master, the last episode of Dark Eyes 2, was a pretty major moment. It wasn’t just because it was his second full appearance in the role. It wasn’t even because it was the first Doctor Who story with McGann that featured the Master after the TV movie (excluding fiftieth anniversary special The Light at the End).

No, what really made Eyes of the Master so important was that it was the episode where we learned where this Master came from. And while it wasn’t exactly surprising, it was definitely satisfying to hear.

Macqueen’s incarnation of the Master is a version that had been resurrected by the Time Lords in preparation for something big. It wasn’t confirmed what that was, but the implication was very clear. When Simm’s Master told the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums that the Time Lords had resurrected him for the Time War, it’s Macqueen’s incarnation that he was referring to.

Recently, I wrote an article on Paul McGann’s Doctor questioning whether he’s really a part of the Classic Series Doctors, or whether he’s really in-between the two eras. And honestly, it feels more accurate to me to describe him as neither Classic or New, but as a bridge Doctor, a clear link between the two very different eras. The same could potentially be argued for John Hurt’s War Doctor, too.

Which is why I like to think of Alex Macqueen as Big Finish’s “bridge Master”…

Masterplan focuses on the Doctor’s and the Master’s relationship in a big way, and perhaps one of the best episodes of Dark Eyes.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

The bridge Master

While he is of course a retroactive incarnation, created by Big Finish after both Jacobi’s and Simm’s incarnations in the New Series, Macqueen still feels like a clear, solid link between Classic and New.

Certainly, he has some of the flavor of both Simm and Gomez – a more insane Master who likes to have fun while being evil. But he also seems to have just a touch of the class and sophistication of previous incarnations, too. He feels like a really natural precursor to the modern era of the Master.

Across the whole of Dark Eyes, he has a lot of fantastic episodes. Dark Eyes 3 is great to hear, as he’s essentially the key enemy for the whole box set. As a result, it really explores the Doctor’s and the Master’s relationship in a much deeper way than usual, especially the episode Masterplan. Both Maqcueen and McGann give amazing performances in that episode.

The whole box set also provides a look at the Master making one of his grand schemes and going through it step by step. It works really well and really helps to sell the scale of his ambitions.

But his last appearance in Dark Eyes is of course absolutely brilliant. In the fittingly titled Master of the Daleks in Dark Eyes 4, we finally get a full-on episode of the Master and the Daleks working together. It’s brilliant, because everyone – and I mean everyone – knows that they’ll betray each other at some point. Of course, what makes it fun is working out who will betray who first.

Overall, the series Dark Eyes really helped to flesh out Alex Macqueen’s Master, and gave us a clearer idea of just who he was. More importantly, Macqueen got to show off even more just how brilliant he is as the Master.

But, of course, it wasn’t the last that we heard him in the role…

Macqueen appeared with fellow Master Geoffrey Beevers in the epic Seventh Doctor story, The Two Masters.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

The Two Masters trilogy

In 2016, to celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the character, Big Finish decided to do something that had never been seriously done before: tell a story with two incarnations of the Master! (Keep in mind, this was a full year before Saxon and Missy in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls.)

However, they wanted to build up to it, first. So they decided to include that major story as part of a trilogy. The first would focus on Geoffrey Beevers’s incarnation; the second featured Macqueen’s, before we finally heard the two together in the finale.

Macqueen’s solo story against the Sixth Doctor, Vampire of the Mind, is a really great installment. In some ways, it’s very old-school in terms of telling its Master story, but it works.

In both that story and The Two Masters, we get a wonderfully different take from Macqueen in the role. He gets to be more sinister and creepy, and it works really well.

But even better is hearing him opposite Beevers’s equally brilliant incarnation. They’re such completely different personalities, and they’re fantastic to hear together.

I strongly recommend listening to The Two Masters. I loved Simm and Gomez in The Doctor Falls, but The Two Masters is an even stronger multi-Master story. Even better is that, while the previous two stories are both great stories, you can easily just jump right into The Two Masters and enjoy it.

Sadly, we haven’t heard anything from Macqueen for a while now. I’m really hoping that he returns at some point, although I do understand why Big Finish would want to give him a rest, at least for a bit. Especially as 2017 gave us both Derek Jacobi’s own series as The War Master and introduced James Dreyfus as the First Master – in the same month!

Still, with more of both incarnations on the way, plus Missy getting her own audio spin-off series next year, I’m really hoping that Big Finish don’t overlook Macqueen entirely. He really is fantastic in the role, and he works well against McGann’s Eighth Doctor especially. I hope we hear more stories featuring Macqueen’s brilliance in the future.

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Have you listened to any of Alex Macqueen’s stories as the Master? Have you enjoyed his performance? Do you want him to appear in the TV series at some point? Let us know in the comments below.

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